Houdini
American Pinball, 2017
Tales of the Arabian Nights
Williams, 1996The Twelve Days of JPOP Christmas.
(Sing to the tune of the original)
On the 12th day of Christmas, JPOP gave to me ...
12 angry pinheads
11 broken contracts
10 unpaid tax bills
9 different websites
8 custom hinges
7 deals with saviours
6 Starbucks lattes
5 .... silver .... balls ....
4 lame excuses
3 empty cabinets
2 purple playfields
And a magic girl for lots of moneyyyyyy
Gold.
rd
Quoted from rotordave:The Twelve Days of JPOP Christmas.
(Sing to the tune of the original)
On the 12th day of Christmas, JPOP gave to me ...
12 angry pinheads
11 broken contracts
10 unpaid tax bills
9 different websites
8 custom hinges
7 deals with saviours
6 Starbucks lattes
5 .... silver .... balls ....
4 lame excuses
3 empty cabinets
2 purple playfields
And a magic girl for lots of moneyyyyyy
Gold.
rd
Quoted from rotordave:The Twelve Days of JPOP Christmas.
(Sing to the tune of the original)
On the 12th day of Christmas, JPOP gave to me ...
12 angry pinheads
11 broken contracts
10 unpaid tax bills
9 different websites
8 custom hinges
7 deals with saviours
6 Starbucks lattes
5 .... silver .... balls ....
4 lame excuses
3 empty cabinets
2 purple playfields
And a magic girl for lots of moneyyyyyy
Gold.
rd
Most of these figures are too low. The obvious exception being, of course, the last one.
Quoted from pinstor12:i have no gift to give, ba rrump bum bum bum.
I have no pin from him, ba rump'a bum bum...
Quoted from rotordave:"And a magic girl for lots of monnneyyyy" fits the cadence of the original song ....
Plus ...
On the 6th day of Christmas, JPOP gave to me ... 6 Starbucks lattes
6 Starbucks lattes
5 pissed off pinheads
4 lame excuses
3 empty cabinets
2 silver balls
And a magic girl for lots of moneyyyyyy
rd
To fit the theme, there shouldn't be anything after the sixth day... just radio silence.
The sad thing is not only will they miss their own self announced deadline, but they haven't had anything more than empty cabinets to show for Magic Girl. To this date, the Pintasia Magic Girl is the only one we've seen that actually flipped (barely).
I have to suspect once AP realized the pig-in-a-poke they had with Houdini, the amount of work and money THAT game needs, it shelved whatever investment was going to go into MG.
What other reasons could there be for them to announce things with such fanfare and then go radio silent for months?
Quoted from frolic:The sad thing is not only will they miss their own self announced deadline, but they haven't had anything more than empty cabinets to show for Magic Girl. To this date, the Pintasia Magic Girl is the only one we've seen that actually flipped (barely).
I have to suspect once AP realized the pig-in-a-poke they had with Houdini, the amount of work and money THAT game needs, it shelved whatever investment was going to go into MG.
What other reasons could there be for them to announce things with such fanfare and then go radio silent for months?
Just curious....Has anyone reached out to AP for comment?
Quoted from PismoArcade:Just curious....Has anyone reached out to AP for comment?
Well their website is down/gone, and Facebook hasn't been updated since Oct. Willing to bet that they have aborted the ugly fetus of jpop.
Quoted from beatmaster:man i can't wait to see those games, in what?... 2 weeks!
Quoted from Drewscruis:ugly fetus of jpop
Good name for a Rock band! 
Quoted from spfxted:Good name for a Rock band!
Ok, I'll go with it. How about all you guys send me 15 bucks each, and I'll send you the album in six months or so (or maybe never). Yeah... that's the ticket! 
Quoted from Drewscruis:Well their website is down/gone, and Facebook hasn't been updated since Oct
The website going missing (& Johns reappearing it seems) makes me wonder if they have scrapped the whole thing including Houdidn't
Quoted from TecumsehPlissken:The website going missing (& Johns reappearing it seems) makes me wonder if they have scrapped the whole thing including Houdidn't
Come on guys... stop being debbie downers... we need to give them a chance! MG owners have a shot at getting their games!!!
</sarcasm>
I doubt it. Why would they hire Joe Balcer if they were throwing in the towel? I bet they are restructuring and will come out of the shadows when they have something to show.
Quoted from TecumsehPlissken:The website going missing (& Johns reappearing it seems) makes me wonder if they have scrapped the whole thing including Houdidn't
Quoted from luvthatapex2:I doubt it. Why would they hire Joe Balcer if they were throwing in the towel? I bet they are restructuring and will come out of the shadows when they have something to show.
That's what I was going to say. You want to know the current state of AP, find out what Joe is doing on a daily basis.
Quoted from TecumsehPlissken:Houdidn't
Oh...that is epic and fucking funny from every angle..
How many more twists and turns can this take?
What's JPop's next Hail Mary...hooking up with Vonnie D?
Maybe he's hooking up with Mindy the Monkee from Sterns anniv party.
Together they could throw around a lot of feces.
They may have took the website down until they're ready for the next announcement. Another possibility, John worked on it and vindictively took it down after a fallout? After all, we know John is good at taking websites down (and facebook pages, and blogs).
Quoted from Spelunk71:Ok, I'll go with it. How about all you guys send me 15 bucks each, and I'll send you the album in six months or so (or maybe never). Yeah... that's the ticket!
Nah, in six months you show a mock-up of the album art in an empty CD case and promise to start writing songs soon.
Quoted from HighProtein:Special Announcement:
INVISI-FLIPPERS TM.
They operate via "Real Quickstep Solenoids"
Quoted from benheck:They operate via "Real Quickstep Solenoids"
After further research, I believe this new technology to be a refinement of the classic "Green Apple Quickstep" technology which JPOP has a history of liberally applying to all his projects (as well as anyone involved with them).
Quoted from Taxman:Anyone try calling? If the phones are disconnected that might be a hint.
This looks like good info with the name changed.
Ok, so yesterday at 2pm, I decided to call. I *67 first to block my number. The phone rings 2 x and someone picks up, obviously reads a caller ID, sees a blocked # and hangs up. So I wait til 3:30pm and call again. This time I did not block my business #. Someone answers hello, it's obvious it's Dhvani. I ask is this American Pinball? He says yes, how can I help you. I play stupid and say hey, I saw you guys on Facebook, do you have any machines ready for Xmas? He says no, we are still in the development stage and the 1st machine will be ready end of 1st quarter 2017. I asked is that the Houdini machine I saw? He says yes and repeats the time frame. He then asked for my email so he could keep me updated. I gave him my business email and said thanks. That was it.
Obviously something is still going on.......what? Who knows.
Quoted from vdojaq:Ok, so yesterday at 2pm, I decided to call. I *67 first to block my number. The phone rings 2 x and someone picks up, obviously reads a caller ID, sees a blocked # and hangs up. So I wait til 3:30pm and call again. This time I did not block my business #. Someone answers hello, it's obvious it's Dhvani. I ask is this American Pinball? He says yes, how can I help you. I play stupid and say hey, I saw you guys on Facebook, do you have any machines ready for Xmas? He says no, we are still in the development stage and the 1st machine will be ready end of 1st quarter 2017. I asked is that the Houdini machine I saw? He says yes and repeats the time frame. He then asked for my email so he could keep me updated. I gave him my business email and said thanks. That was it.
Obviously something is still going on.......what? Who knows.
Wait you called and did actual research. Isn't that against forum rules? 
Quoted from CaptainNeo:well now he knows it was you.
And that ruins his chances of getting one before the apocalypse?
Nice to know they didn't drink a bunch of grape Cool-Aid and walk out into the fields.
But . . .
Glad to hear they didn't bail so at least they are committed enough to take their lumps, hopefully cut out the cancer, and become an actual pinball company that puts out a fun, unique game for a competitive price.
Not going to hold my breath though but it would be a pleasant surprise.
The future of AP is not quite over yet.
There is still potential of the MG release.
The comment about Joe Balcer is relevant.
Everyone just needs to be patient.
Enjoy Christmas and maybe a "new" used pinball machine purchase over the holidays.
- TBK
Good to know that maybe there is a game being built. I hope they can do it because like JJP it's job creation right? However in saying that guys like jpop need to be jailed, kinda like Madoff, same type of person.
Don't know what people were expecting given that it became obvious that JPop had sold them something which didn't work, the tone of their seminar, and Joe Balcer's employment and his comments on the readiness of the game.
It obviously doesn't look that great, but on the other hand Joe was responsible for WOZ, so I think there is some reason to be optimistic, if he's given sufficient time and budget to finish the game.
I'm sure they'll show something if and when they have it.
If they leave, I'd expect them to publicly state why (JPop).
Just keep in mind for all those that are still interested.
MG won't necessarily be a "great, amazing, wonderful flow and deep ruleset" pinball machine.
People should be satisfied it finally works, flips, and is reasonably playable.
I know this is not the optimal end state, but that is the final best case scenario, and investors get something.
Based on the current market, it might not make a difference, as "rare", "good", and "expensive" do not always go together.
The good news is I have multiple collector friends nearby that I might be able to sample the final product on way or another.
Quoted from xTheBlackKnightx:Just keep in mind for all those that are still interested.
MG won't necessarily be a "great, amazing, wonderful flow and deep ruleset" pinball machine.
People should be satisfied it finally works, flips, and is reasonably playable.
I know this is not the optimal end state, but that is the final best case scenario, and investors get something.
Based on the current market, it might not make a difference, as "rare", "good", and "expensive" do not always go together.
The good news is I have multiple collector friends nearby that I might be able to sample the final product on way or another.
If MG runs on something that can be programmed by an outside party, somebody will take it on as a personal project. If the physical is there, the code will we done by somebody.
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